Scythe



W. WORTHINGTON.

SCYTHE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1'; 1919.

1,338,272, Patented Apr. 27, 1920.

WITNESSES I INVENTOR a yMQM. I I lz WARREN WORTHINGTQN, or New YORK, N.Y.

Specification of Letters Patent.

" s I ,soY'rHE.

Patented Apr. 27, 1920.

Application filed March 1, 1919. Serial No. 279,385.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, l/VARREN VORTI-IING won,a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Scythes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to scythe blades. Its object is to provide ascytheblade which, as compared with scythe blades as heretoforeconstructed, is cheaper and easier to manufacture, is of lighter weight,thereby lowering the cost, has a thinner web portion, thereby making iteasier to sharpen, and is nevertheless of great stiffness.

The invention comprises a scythe blade constructed as hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of the improvedscythe blade; Fig. 2 is an end view thereof; and Fig. 8 1s an enlargedsectional view on the line 8-3 Fig. 1.

Scythe blades are ordinarily formed by forging a steel blank to form ablade of the usual construction with the web portion having one edgethin toform the cutting edge, and increasing in thickness toward itsopposite edge,which latter edge is thickened or ribbed to give thenecessary stiffness. Since these blades must be made of a fairly hardsteel, the forging operation is slow and quite diiiicult, and this addsto the cost of the finished blades. Furthermore the webs cannot bereduced by forging beyond a certain thickness, and as a consequence theblades are quite heavy, and as the steel is quite costly this also addsto its cost. The relatively thick webs also add to the difficulty andlabor of sharpening the blades.

The improved scythe blade, forming the subject of this invention,overcomes the foregoing difliculties. The blade in form and contour isthe same as heretofore constructed, having the web portion 7, of theusual curved shape, with the cutting edge 8 along one edge, and thestrengthening rib or back 9 on the opposite edge. This blade, however,instead of being forged. from a comparatively thick blank is made bytaking a steel plate of uniform thickness which is somewhat thinner thanthe webs of standard scythe blades, and forming the strengthening backor rib 9 by a bending or folding operation to provide a flange or rib atsubstantially right angles to the plane of the web. This rib or back iscomposed of a rib or flange 10, with its extreme edge bent at Tlgltangles, as shown at l3, and lying subyet have them equally as stiff andstrong as the forged blade. In this way the amount of metal used inmaking the blade is reduced, giving a light weight blade, therebyreducing the cost, and forming thinner webs than with forged blades,thus facilitating. sharpening. Any desired degree of stiffness can beimparted to such light blades by merely forming the rib or flange of thedesired width.

In forming the new blade the back or strengthening rib can be formed bysimple bending operations, while the plate is hot, which bendingoperations can be easily performed by simple apparatus, and eitherforging or grinding the free edge of the web to produce the cuttingedge.

This blade will be provided with the usual shank, shown at 15, whichwill be of the usual construction of such shanks, and

which may be either integral with the body of the blade, such as makingit by folding the sheet steel over double or triple to get the desiredstrength and then spot-welding or riveting the folded parts together,and Lip-setting to form the nib or lugs 16; or it may be of a separatepiece, either formed as a drop forging or a malleable casting, andriveted or spot-welded to the web of the blade. Inasmuch as both methodsof forming the shank are already old, the same need not be furtherdescribed, and no claim thereto is herein made.

The advantages of the improved scythe blade over such blades asordinarily constructed are, reduction in weight and amount of materialused, thereby reducing the cost; reduction in the number and diflicultyof operations in manufacture, thus further reducing the cost; decreasingthe thickness of the web, thus facilitating sharpening; and yet providefor a sufiiciently great thickness of the back of the scythe to give astifiness equal toand, if desired, greater than that of forged scytheblades. a

What I claim is:

A scythe blade comprising a thin steel.

plate of uniform thickness having one edge formed as a cutting edge andits opposite edge disposed at a right angle to the Web and thenextending in a plane substantially parallel to the Web to form astiffening 10 lVARREN WORTHINGTON. V

Witnesses 7 E. WV. BARENTHER, VVIRTMAN EAsoN.

